(Fortune) - At Tuesday's epic Goldman Sachs hearing, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan led a public grilling of Wall Street not seen by a government panel since the Depression-investigating Pecora Commission. Fortune wanted to know what Levin thought of the answers he got from executives, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein, whether Goldman can save its reputation, and what his committee has learned from its hearings on the financial crisis.

soundoff(16 Responses)

Chessnutz of Liverpool NY

So why is it that these executives were not lead away in handcuffs? Why is it that a crime of fraud that stole billions and trillions of dollars has no consequence other than getting a tongue lashing from this committee?
A young person smoking a joint goes to jail and a felon for life, but hey if you trade derivatives for Wall Street and make billions through fraud you get off Scott free.

April 30, 2010 04:24 pm at 4:24 pm |

Rick in OP

I totally disagree with the premise of the article in Fortune.

What I would like to see is Sen. Levin have the same discussion with Mr. Blankfein without Sen. Levin hiding behind his office as a U.S. senator. These grandstanding senators and representatives silently intimidate those who appear before such panels with the threat of more intensive government investigation if they do not show the proper "respect". I think the outcome would have been considerably different if Mr. Blankfein would have been able to speak freely and demonstrate his massive intellectual superiority over Sen. Levin.

Then again, Goldman Sachs was a big contributor to the Obama campaign. I hope Goldman Sachs is enjoying the "change" they helped to bring about.

April 30, 2010 04:26 pm at 4:26 pm |

Pat F

It seems that Carl missed his calling. He has been a completely useless Senator. But apparently he could have been a great sailor – he certainly swears like one.

April 30, 2010 04:39 pm at 4:39 pm |

Adalbert

Goldman Sachs is a corrupt money making machine. They are above the law and they are allowed to still billions.

April 30, 2010 05:33 pm at 5:33 pm |

Victim of GOP Taliban

The media keeps spinning this story while being intellectually dishonest. Levin QUOTED internal GS emails – probably provided by an informant or whistle-blower. The real questions is WHO sent that email.
Do your job please and cite the source of the comments...maybe even have the initiative to do some real investigative journalism and find out the source of the internal email as well.

April 30, 2010 05:43 pm at 5:43 pm |

Jeff Spangler

Goldman and coconspirator Paulson packaged loans which they knew with the mathematical certainty provided by Fab Tourre's aeronautical engineer colleague were [excrement] and sold them to European banks which were dumb enough not to do the math and trusted Goldman's reputation for not routinely engaging in such in-your-face misstatements, conflicts of interest and breaches of fiduciary duty.

April 30, 2010 05:47 pm at 5:47 pm |

Terry from Texas

Levin is nothing but a blowhard as are all democrats and liberals. Blankfein showed him that he, Levin, didn't have the slightest idea what he was talking about and all Levin could do was try to deflect his ignorance by throwing out-of-context emails at the CEO.

April 30, 2010 05:49 pm at 5:49 pm |

A keen observer

As always, the republican homies are defending the Wall Street greedmongers while trying to castigate Senator Levin for asking tough questions that Blankfein and his cohorts would not answer. Blankfein's answer was I lost money on the mortgage collapse before I made money on it. What a bunch of self-serving BS!

republicans who support Wall Street are showing how much they hate the American taxpayer.

April 30, 2010 06:01 pm at 6:01 pm |

Larry

This whole matter has been turned over to the Justice Department for criminal investigation, where it should be.

April 30, 2010 06:04 pm at 6:04 pm |

jack

What most Americans don't understand is that in its capacity as a market maker for these securities it is not acting as an advisor. There is no fiduciary duty in this type of transaction. Banks sell millions of securities a day and no one ever knows the person on the other side of the transaction. Carl levin looked like a dope to anyone who knows the basics of how securities are bought and sold at a fair bid/ask price. I am scared that these misinformed senators are the ones crafting reform legislation. Let's hope hank and tim have a lot of say.

April 30, 2010 06:20 pm at 6:20 pm |

Victim of GOP Taliban

Nice to know the Republicans think that not regulating anyone is good for business even if it does happen to drag the world into another Great Depression. Gee I wonder – Paulson was the CEO of Goldman and was appointed by that idiot that got lost from his village in TX. I thought the Republicans were so smart and not regulating anyone was suppose to be the answer for everything?

April 30, 2010 06:23 pm at 6:23 pm |

al in memphis

Maybe some people will get how big of a deal this is. Try walking into your bank to deposit money, they charge you for taking your money. Then they slap you in the face and tell you they may give it back to you when they get ready.
Now get out of here because there is nothing you can do about it.

Is this making sense to you now?

April 30, 2010 06:25 pm at 6:25 pm |

al in memphis

You know its bad when Goldman actions makes the Mafia jealous. How to commit a crime without the possibility of going to jail. And if you are a really big time Goldman type criminal that puts the economy at risk, you can force the government to bail you out.

Some where Mafia bosses are crying in their beers.

April 30, 2010 06:29 pm at 6:29 pm |

Fitz in Texas

Bet Senator Carl Levin of Michigan didn't have a problem with Goldman Sach's when they donated almost ONE MILLION dollars to the OBAMA'S CAMPAIGN.

April 30, 2010 07:54 pm at 7:54 pm |

MikeH

Levin did a great job.

Rick in OP, Levin's not "hiding in his office", he's doing the People's work, he was elected to do what he's doing. I know you're sympathetic to the financial industry, and perhaps getting paid to post pro-wall street propaganda here, but you should really read up on and start supporting representative democracy. If not than you should leave America since you hate democracy so much.

So "Terry from Texas" how much do you get paid for every pro-wall street lie ticker post CNN puts up for you. The RNC and their Wall Street Masters are spending millions of dollars spreading lies to try to defeat the Financial Regulation bill.

You "Terry", and all the other paid Republican liars, just want to cash in, get paid with dirty money to help destroy America some more eh?

You and those like you are traitors, and should all be exiled to Somalia.

April 30, 2010 07:57 pm at 7:57 pm |

redbug

Senator Levin did his homework and it showed. These Wall Street fat cats seem to have no sense of guilt for the moral crimes they have committed against the American people. And when they defraud the Europeans in the same way, they make us look like a nation of thugs. Their moral character would probably improve if they were taken out of the rat race for a while and given some jail time to think about what they have done. People who control such large parts of our national financial resources should be held to a higher standard, not a lower one. With privilege comes responsibility.